Panic!

As in active but senseless behavior, irrationality, not thinkin' straight.
And that's just what we're in right now, a verified panic that has financial markets crashing with the force of a category 5 hurricane. Is it because it rained all weekend on the east coast, that congress just couldn't get it together to make a plan (studies show sunshine is beneficial for finance...hmmm)? And who knew that the supposedly rock-solid foundation of our liberal economy would be so sensitive to the pyschological weaknesses that plague most of us - insecurity, hubris, greed, paranoia, confusion?

Common sense and a good dose of Marx, not to mention the words of caution from authors presaging the current predicament (see The Clusterfuck Nation ) help to soften the surprise of a free market gone a-muck. Strange that the Patriot Act could regulate 99% of human action with such ease without recognizing that economic action just might be connected to the same 'disorder' that keeps therapists employed across the nation. I'm not condoning the dastardly Patriot Act in any way here, just riffing on panic and confidence, two words commonly associated with new mothers and Ivy League grads respectively, and now mostly applicable to a big LED screen tracking numbers.

Fear comes so easy to us in a culture of sensationalized information, stretched to its extremities just to grab our attention. As my very wise and very economically savvy brother advised to me, "Whatever happens, I urge everyone to do the opposite of what our political and business leaders are doing: do not panic."

Easy for me, I have no liquidity to speak of anyway! So I'm gonna take all that money I don't have and not invest it, and try not to worry. If you are still thinking about reasonable investments, I suggest alternative energy sources and technologies...but if solar panels aren't your thing, Campbell's Soup anyone?